IMSA: Kimber-Smith joins PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports

After helping PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports secure the California-based team's first class victory at the 2015 Rolex 24 at Daytona, Tom Kimber-Smith originally believed that he was going to take the rest of the year off. With competitive seats for Gold-rated drivers getting increasingly difficult to find, it did not look like the Ascot, England native was going to have much to look forward to this season.

However, an opportunity presented itself when Andrew Novich announced that he was going to focus on finishing his college degrees and step back from the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports' #52 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship PC class entry.

After his strong showing at Daytona, Kimber-Smith was the natural candidate to fill Novich's place alongside fellow season-long team driver Michael Guasch, beginning with the 63rd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by "Fresh from Florida" on March 21.

"Like everyone else on the team, I was saddened to hear that Andrew had to make the difficult decision to focus on school this season," said Kimber-Smith. "He was great to have on the team and I'll always remember the joy we had spraying each other with champagne on the podium at Daytona.

"Naturally I immediately accepted the team's offer to drive with Michael (Guasch) once the call came in that the seat was open. A lot of people think that these races come down to who has the fastest gold-rated driver, but in reality, it's the silver guys that make the biggest difference, and Michael is one of the best there is.

"Looking ahead to Sebring, and to the whole year for that matter, there are three to four cars that will be in the mix for the win every race weekend. I've always had to keep an eye on the #54, but they're certainly not the only threat out there.

"It should make for an interesting year and I'm looking forward to helping Michael and everyone else on the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports team get more wins this year."